This is as scary as it can get. The PD Hinduja hospital detected four people with total drug resistant (TDR) tuberculosis (TB), the first such cases in the country till November last year. In the last two months, eight others have been detected with TDR-TB.

Of the 12 patients, a 31-year-old woman from Dharavi died in November 2011. She underwent a surgery to remove one of the infected lungs before she passed away. Doctors say the condition is a result of inappropriate treatment of TB patients in private clinics. A person with TB can infect 15 people a year and cause an epidemic, according to doctors.

Huseng wrote:I was in a hospital in India a few weeks ago where TB patients are also kept.

The quality of healthcare in India, especially public hospitals, leads to these problems no doubt.

TB is not easy to get. You have to be malnourished, live in damp, cold conditions, and be continually exposed to it for a very long period of time. It is one of the hardest bacteria to culture.

TB is mostly a public health issue i.e. if people's living conditions are improved, their risk of contracting the disease lessens considerably. This is that reason that in the US most cases of TB are in the homeless population.

I am a newly graduated nurse, and from my studies learned of MDR-TB (multi drug resistant strains) - simply put, improper or noncompliant use of treatment programs has led to mutations of the TB bacterium. Namdrol is right is stating that it is not an easy disease to get, especially for healthy people. The very young and very old are at higher risk, as are those with malnutrition, infection, immune dysfunction, those living in crowded conditions, and those who abuse drugs and alcohol. So yes, the average person doesn't need to worry too much. Still, when one hears of these mutant strains that are not responsive to any medication, it is very scary.

The 'totally drug resistant' TB was named as such because they couldn't find a better term compared to the MDR-TB. TDR-TB did not respond to tests for 12 of the 14 by the WHO recommended drugs. Bad enough but not entirely hopeless yet...

Huseng wrote:I was in a hospital in India a few weeks ago where TB patients are also kept.

The quality of healthcare in India, especially public hospitals, leads to these problems no doubt.

TB is not easy to get. You have to be malnourished, live in damp, cold conditions, and be continually exposed to it for a very long period of time. It is one of the hardest bacteria to culture.

TB is mostly a public health issue i.e. if people's living conditions are improved, their risk of contracting the disease lessens considerably. This is that reason that in the US most cases of TB are in the homeless population.

Wow that gives me a whole new context to listen through when I hear "Tibetans suffer from TB on a large scale" or some such thing. Or was it Tibetans living in India? Are they a relatively indigent refugee population? To say nothing of the poor Tibetans living in Tibet.